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Alfredo (often published as Armando) Mei promotes a pseudo-archaeological theory claiming that the Giza pyramids and associated structures predate dynastic Egypt by tens of thousands of years and originate from a lost, advanced prehistoric civilization. His speculative reconstruction of deep human prehistory seeks to align ancient mythological narratives with selected geological and climatological events.
Central to his argument is the claim that the Giza pyramids do not belong to the dynastic period of ancient Egypt but instead originate in a remote primordial epoch identified with Zep Tepi (“the First Time”), which he dates to approximately 36,400 BCE.
His date for this Zep Tepi was originally derived from proposed astronomical alignments. To this he now adds interpretations of satellite-based remote sensing data, which he argues reveal architectural features predating known Egyptian civilization. On this basis, Mei posits the existence of a technologically advanced global civilization that flourished tens of thousands of years ago and was subsequently destroyed by catastrophic natural events, surviving only in fragmentary mythological traditions.
A pivotal component of his framework is the Toba supereruption, conventionally dated to approximately 74,000–75,000 years before present (BP), which is widely recognized in the geological record as one of the largest volcanic events of the Quaternary period. While the severity of its climatic and demographic consequences remains debated among palaeoclimatologists and anthropologists, some models propose that the eruption may have contributed to a temporary reduction in human population size, often described as a genetic “bottleneck.” Mei interprets this event not merely as an environmental catastrophe but as a civilizational collapse, which he associates with later mythological traditions concerning lost lands such as Atlantis, Lemuria, and Mu.
I really do not understand the logic of this argument. There is a significant chronological discontinuity within his framework. The proposed eruption of Toba at approximately 75,000 BP precedes Mei’s proposed construction date for the Giza monuments (36,400 BCE) by nearly 40,000 years, a temporal gap for which he provides no coherent mechanism of cultural transmission, technological continuity, or archaeological evidence. Consequently, the only conclusion one can reach is that his speculative link between this volcanic event and the emergence of a highly developed architectural tradition several tens of millennia later remains at best theoretically underdeveloped and empirically unsupported. This chronological inconsistency highlights a broader methodological reliance on associative reasoning rather than actual evidence.
Here's the blurb for his 2025 book:
36,400 BCE – The Secrets of the Gods:
A Research-Based Investigation into the Origins of Human Civilization
What if key aspects of human civilization did not emerge gradually, but instead originated from a much earlier and more advanced cultural framework?
In 36,400 BCE – The Secrets of the Gods, independent researcher Armando Mei presents a structured investigation into the deep past of human civilization, focusing on archaeological evidence from the Giza Plateau and its surrounding context. Drawing on field observations, architectural analysis, and satellite-based remote sensing data, this book challenges conventional chronological assumptions without resorting to speculative or mythological narratives.
This book explores:
Architectural and spatial anomalies at Giza that resist conventional explanations
Evidence suggesting advanced planning, metrology, and structural logic
The implications of non-invasive satellite technologies (SAR) in archaeological research
The possibility of a lost pre-dynastic cultural horizon predating known civilizations
Unlike many works in the field of alternative history, this study avoids symbolic interpretations and focuses instead on physical constraints, architectural coherence, and verifiable methodological frameworks.
